Various formation evaluation tools and other suitable devices, typically integrated into a bottomhole assembly, are used in hydrocarbon exploration and production to measure properties of geologic formations during or shortly after the excavation of a borehole. Communications techniques such as Mud Pulse Telemetry (MPT) and other telemetery techniques are used to transmit formation evaluation (FE) data to the surface while drilling or reaming, in conjuction with various logging processes. Since data rates of current telemetry techniques are low, and downhole measurements in some cases (e.g., imaging services) may require transmission of large arrays of data with bit sensitive information, downhole data compression may be needed. There are some compression techniques algorithms to compress data sets downhole and decompress the data sets on the surface, which may only work properly when the bit stream received on the surface is identical with the bit stream produced downhole.
For some communication techniques, and particularly for telemetry techniques, the quality of communication channels may vary along the channels, and thus communication quality cannot be completely relied on.
In typical telemetry processes, primarily due to varying communication quality, errors are commonly introduced into the compressed data during transmission. Errors may come from various sources, such as pump noise, signal attenuation and signal reflection. Data sets which are compressed by bit sensitive compression techniques could be damaged or completely destroyed if an error occurs at the beginning of the corresponding bit stream.